


figuring it out

by gokuharas



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, M/M, No Spoilers, im sure ouma would have actually appreciated that but he doesnt die in this unfortunately, insult tenko chabashira and she'll end your life on the spot, rip maki harukawa for getting no attention in this fic, spoiler free, unless you count the fact that tenko is flamingly gay as a spoiler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 06:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10211186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gokuharas/pseuds/gokuharas
Summary: Tenko just wants her school life to be peaceful and enjoyable.Ouma Kokichi seems to be intent on proving this dream impossible with the fact of his continued existence.(spoiler free!)





	

Jogging through the campus to her classroom on her twenty-first day as a student of Kibougamine Academy, Tenko Chabashira couldn't have felt happier. In the few weeks that she'd been attending the prestigious school, she'd already come to love the lush greenery and expansive facilities that surrounded the students everywhere they went - she'd already been given a _whole dojo_ that she only had to share with a couple of her senior peers, both of whom were great sparring partners and actually appreciated the fine tuning she'd put into her personal form of aikido. Her classmates were wonderful, too; Angie had made her some little pinwheels for her to put in the pots she had for her many, many succulents, Kaede had taken her on a trip to the store she'd bought her hairpins from, and Himiko would start off every day by magically producing a 100 yen coin from Tenko's ponytails.

Memories making her shoulders light with renewed joy, the aikido master slid open her classroom door.

She hadn't regretted something so immediately since she'd broken three fingers punching a hole in her bedroom wall. 

The room was a complete _mess_. Ten or so desks had all been shoved into one corner, some stacked on top of others, while chairs lay strewn around the room in haphazard piles. For some reason, half the blinds were down about twice as far as they needed to be while the other half couldn't have been up any further. In the corner opposite all the desks, Tsumugi, Angie, Kaede and Himiko all sat together in an effort to take up as little space as possible, Kirumi surveying the room from a few feet away looking like she was halfway between concussed and in the middle of a heart attack.

None of that was anything _near_ as surreal as what was actually going on on the other side of the room.

Aside from Ryoma and Korekiyo, Tenko was pretty sure she could spot each and every boy in her class somewhere within the crowd of classmates. Most obvious was Gonta, though not due to his size so much as his mass of olive hair, since the entomologist was hunched over to about the same height as Rantaro and, for some inexplicable reason, sobbing. Rantaro himself looked mildly displeased at best and mildly disturbed at worst, something that was usual for the generally reserved luckster. Next to him was Kiibo, clearly very offended by whatever the hell was actually happening (Tenko sure couldn't tell) and Shuuichi, oddly hatless and upset but trying to be mature about it as always.

The same couldn't be said for Kaito, who was currently yelling at Kokichi and sending spit flying everywhere while the latter perched himself triumphantly on a stack of chairs and dangled a mass of items above the heads of all his classmates.

Tenko took a moment to stare and try to process the situation from the solace of the doorway. Normally she might just rush into a situation, but honestly, there were too many people standing in the one spot for her to be able to take any guess at what might actually be going on. A little unnerved, she walked over to the group of girls in the corner, dropping down on her toes to be level with the rest of the group.

"Do any of you have any clue what's going on over there?"

Kaede, apparently the only one able to hear her properly over the cacophony of shouts and screeches nearby, deflated as she looked over at the riot. "Ouma-kun stole Gokuhara-kun's bug box, and then while Saihara was trying to get him to cooperate he stole his cap, and when Kiibo-kun went over he took his antennae too, and now..." She gestured at Kaito matter-of-factly.

Looking over to find that Kokichi was still flaunting the stolen items like fresh hunt, Tenko nodded, her gaze set with a steely harshness. She thanked Kaede briefly before pushing herself back up off the hardwood floor and storming over to the crowd.

As she approached, Gonta turned around, and Tenko spared a moment in her mind to be grateful for the fact that she wouldn't have to shove her way through a mass of boys.

"A-Ah, Chabashira-san! Thank you!"

Already used to Gonta's habit of thanking people and too annoyed to care regardless, Tenko brushed off any attempts at pleasantries. "Gokuhara-san, please stand aside if you know what's good for you."

The entomologist's still-teary eyes widened in something akin to terror as he dutifully stepped to the side.

"Thanks."

Her main obstacle removed and a path now cleared through the centre of the mob, Tenko shoved past a shaken Kaito and ended up right in front of Kokichi.

The supreme ruler looked down at her, smiling in a way that would look absolutely genuine to anyone who hadn't had to put up with him for the better part of a month.

"Hey Chabashira-chan, how's it going?"

Tenko scowled.

"Aww, c'mon! No need to be a stranger! I was just playing a game with Momota-chan here, y'know?"

"How gullible do you think Tenko _is_?"

Kokichi grinned cheerily, his empty hand raised to his chin in mock confusion, and leaned over Tenko so that she stood in his shadow.

"Hm, I dunno... Enough?"

Tenko closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and ripped him down by his ankles.

Kokichi was on the floor within seconds. A chair toppled over and fell on his back. Angie cheered.

Wordlessly, the aikido master tore the things Kokichi had stolen out of his hand and handed them back to their owners before the boy could protest, then turned back to him and got a hold on his scarf.

She looked over to Kaede, who was staring like a stunned goldfish from the corner she'd been occupying earlier, clearly against the violent display but well aware that Kokichi had had it coming for him.

"If the teacher shows up, tell her Tenko had to bring Ouma-san to the nurse."

Kaede just nodded and gave a weak thumbs up as she watched Tenko drag a dazed Kokichi out into the hallway. Angie's exclamation of "We'll miss your company, Kokichi!" and an enthused snort were all that Tenko heard before she closed the door behind her with a slam.

Her captive in tow, Tenko found an open janitor's closet a few doors down, which she promptly threw Kokichi into, entered and closed.

Scuffling to prop himself up amongst the cleaning supplies in the cramped room while Tenko turned on a light, he cast his assailant a cocky smirk.

"Just couldn't get enough of me, huh? Don't worry, I won't tell anybody about our secret rendezvous, Ten-"

The sound of Tenko's palm impacting against Kokichi's cheek reverberated through the stuffy closet as he scrambled to cover up the tears pricking in his eyes as discretely as he could.

Pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, Tenko scoffed in disgust. "Ouma Kokichi, for the love of... You're what, seventeen years old? Start acting like it!"

At this, Kokichi actually started to cry. _God,_ his screeching put two year olds everywhere to shame.

"C-Chabashira-chan, that's so mean! I thought we were friends, but here you are, punching me and then trying to make _me_ look like the bad guy! Not very polite of you, now, is it?"

"Do you want to see your crushes sometime in the next fortnight or are you gunning for a trip to the infirmary?"

Kokichi seemed to jolt into awareness at that. His dramatic facade melting away, he looked Tenko in the eye, cunning but somehow slightly more cautious than before, as if placing the last piece in a tower of cards.

"What makes you say I have crushes?"

"You've got to be kidding me! Tenko knows you're only half joking when you call Amami-san and Saihara-san your 'beloved'! And she also knows you're interested in Momota-san, Gokuhara-san and Kiibo-san too, based on what happened this morning! Tenko isn't just some idiot!"

For a split second, Kokichi completely blanched, and Tenko thought she might have caught a rare glimpse of the boy's true emotions before he switched back to playing himself up. His resolve recovered fast, though, and moments later he was smiling at her innocently again as if nothing had happened.

"Hmm, maybe! So what?"

"Huh?"

"Nishishi! I don't know what authority you actually have to tell me who I do and don't have crushes on, but even if I theoretically did, what difference would it make to you?"

That was... a good question, actually. It wasn't like Tenko and Kokichi were exactly trying to court the same audience. No, if anything...

"It makes a difference to Tenko because we're still in the same class!"

"Huh?"

"If Tenko is going to have to put up with you for the next three years of school and at every reunion after that, she's not going to put herself and all the nice girls in her class through watching you be miserably incompetent at social interaction!"

After that, Kokichi's mask totally shattered. His guard was still up, but only as a half-hearted imitation of what it'd been every other time Tenko had had the displeasure of seeing the supreme ruler, and part of her mind even ventured so far as to feel _sorry_ for him, much to her own surprise and slight distaste.

"Right," Kokichi started, eyes slightly glazed over as they stared at the door blankly, "I'll try to, um. Do... Something."

"...Ugh, fine. You can ask for advice if you want, you know."

He lit up a little at this, albeit for all the wrong reasons. "For what, how to deal with crushes? I don't think you're the first person I'd go to for romance advice, Chabashira-chan."

"W-why not! Tenko has experience!"

Kokichi shrugged, suddenly grinning again. "Do you now?"

"Yes! Tenko has arrangements outside of school!" _She'd liked him better when he wasn't being a jerk._

"Ahh, I see. That explains why you started drooling when Yumeno-chan gave you a front-row seat in one of her magic shows, then."

The aikido master could feel her face burning up in the exact way it had after Himiko had given her that ticket, and she scowled. "Tenko was- I didn't- Ugh! That's not even what I meant, anyway! You can't just start with romance, Ouma-san!"

The fact that the boy actually looked intrigued by this fact just went to show how incredibly inexperienced he was with the concept. Tenko sighed again, this time more out of pity than resignation.

"Tenko might not... actually be dating Yumeno-san at the moment. She might not ever get to. But that's the thing! They're your classmates, you have to be friends with them first and then let _them_ decide whether they feel the same! And that doesn't involve being a jerk to everybody because you can't handle your feelings! It'll never work! Tenko doesn't really like you, but she thinks that you can do better than this if you accept that you're only making things worse for everyone!"

Kokichi stayed silent for a moment, his lilac irises seeming to pierce straight through Tenko's own as he stared and processed. After a brief pause, he went back to grinning in a way that made Tenko think he'd have thrown his hands behind his head if they weren't currently bunched up in a closet.

"Well, Chabashira-chan, I think I might consider your advice! I haven't got any reason to trust you though, of course, so be grateful!"

"Just don't make Gokuhara-san cry again. It's pitiful."

"Sure thing! And hey, by the way..."

Leaving the janitor's closet, Tenko turned around to watch as Kokichi emerged and flicked off the light, his smile suddenly switching back to a jarringly genuine one.

"Just for the record... I think you've got a pretty good shot with Yumeno-chan."

The slightest smile twitching at the corners of her lips, Tenko followed her cheerfully skipping classmate over to her classroom door. Honestly, the whole debacle had turned out better than she could have possibly hoped. Now she'd finally be able to resume class in peace-

"Oi, Chabashira! Have fun making out with Ouma in the closet?"

Tenko's gaze immediately deadlocked on Miu, sitting in one of the now-arranged desks and snickering wildly.

"Tenko is a lesbian."

With that, Tenko returned the high-five Kokichi offered her, swiftly returning to her seat and apologising to the teacher for the interruption.

When she glanced over at Himiko next, she swore she could see the faintest of flushes on her cheeks.

 

\----------

 

Day forty-six of Tenko's time as a student at Kibougamine Academy, and everything was going more perfectly than she could have ever asked. The campus had a great selection of spots to eat lunch; Tenko had chosen to sit under a tree today, enjoying the soft breeze that tousled at her bangs and warm beams of gold that filtered in through the leaves sheltering her overhead.

As she picked at her bento box, she watched Kokichi approach Saihara and Kiibo, who had been sitting together by the fountain, and ask the pair something she'd been too far away to hear. The two nodded, a smile on each of their faces, and Kokichi seemed to explode with only partially-contained joy as he bounced up and down. 

The three talked for a minute before Kokichi grinned and waved at them, bounding away in a cheery walk that quickly turned into skips and jumps.

As her newfound sort-of-friend approached her general direction, she hailed him and gave him a thumbs up.

Kokichi pointed at Himiko and grinned, returning the gesture before he disappeared behind the trees.

A content smile on her face, Tenko went back to running her fingers through Himiko's scarlet locks as the magician slept on the makeshift pillow she'd made out of her girlfriend's thigh.

**Author's Note:**

> im not used to writing entire fics in one day sorry if this is a mess :'/ it hasnt been properly beta'd yet either which i promise ill fix asap if need be i just wanted to get this posted,,
> 
> please comment if you enjoyed (or if you didnt and think i should know why, but please dont be rude ffhf)!!! comments are the main reason i write and post things here and getting em means im more likely to write more ;;;););)


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